This blog serves as a space where I can share the process of my painting journey.........

Saturday, July 2, 2016

Daily drawing #31

Not as successful but I am gaining control....this is a paper vase and so it took that light in a very dull way.
I have a book which was a Christmas gift and I love some of the painters thoughts and feelings. I have been contemplating what growth is and how it happens. Robert A. Johnson's words follow..."Ultimately it became clearer and clearer that the process of learning itself was the goal, and the painting skills quietly crept in the back door and magically appeared on the canvas. The push to learn and understand seemed to free me from the constraints that the ego imposes. As long as I was learning, the opinions of others had little effect. Even my own attitude was liberated from the grip of ego. If the painting did not meet the standard I aspired to, I was not dissatisfied but often derived an overriding comfort from my belief that I had learned something in the process. If nothing more than a deeper understanding of the weaknesses and mistakes that held the painting back.

About Me

I find that every available minute that I have is filled with a desire to paint. Painting is not an easy task for me and requires great patience and persistence. It is light falling on a bush, a pitcher or cascading off of a table that I am interested in. I try not to think too much about what I am going to paint. I look around my home or thumb through photos to find the perfect subject for that day. I don’t want to carry forth a narrative or tell a story. My delight is in the struggle to paint and to capture light; those intimate hours where it is just me, my tools, and hard work.
I like abstraction and then on the other hand I enjoy realism. Because I paint images that are both representational and abstract, I define my way of painting as abstract realism. There is a refinement to my painting and also a gutsiness and bold aggression. I don’t simply want to paint a beautiful image (although that is part of it), I desire to paint and show my arduous search to define what is before me.
If I can paint something that finds a space in your heart then my quest has not been in vain.